Air-cooled aircraft engine



Sept. 10, 9 0- A. H. R. FEDD EN ET AL 2,214,669

AIR-COOLED AIRCRAFT ENGINE I Filed Oct. 19, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 nvenZZrs p .10.- 0- AHFEDDEN Em 2,214,669

AIR-COOLED AIRCRAFT ENGINE Fi led Oct. 19, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I vi wrne ys.

Patented Sept. 10, 1940 I l P'Armr 01: ;E

VAIR-C'OOLE D AIRCRAFT ENGINE 1 Alfredllubert Fedden, John William Copley, and Peter Fortescue, Bristol, England, assignors ,1 to The Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited,

- Bristol, England,aBritish.company application October 19, 1938, Serial No. 235,878 1, mama Britain ctober 27, 1937 1 Claim, (01. lea-4171i P This invention is for. improvements: in cooling arrangements for aircraft engines and is concerned with engines of thekind having radiallyarranged air-cooled cylinders surrounded by a.

6 streamlined cowl into which cooling air enters through a front orifice. 1 v

In'an engine of this .kind the external :air-flow over the cowlcauses variationsv in'pressure over the surface ofthe cowl. The dlspositlon'of high 10 pressureand low pressure region's depends upon variousfactors such as the shape of the cowl and conditions of flightbut; in general, the pressure at the edgeof theyfront orifice andwithin the orifice'is positive (that is to say, aboveatmospheric) ,.and ate short distance behindand radially outwards beyond this edge the pressure at the outside of the cowl isnegative (that is to'say,

below- 1 atmospheric) -.i f Passing outwardly and 1 V rearwardly along the surfaceof the 'cowlthe air pressure soon'reaches a maximum negative value v and then 'changesg-radually until, at thetrailing edge of the cowl, it is substantially equal to at mospheric pressure. As an'fexample, it-may be mentioned that at aflight speed of 300 M. P. H.,

in onev installation; the maximum pressure within the inlet orifice has been found to'be 40 inches of water above atmospheric and the lowest pressure, which is beyond the edge of thisorifice,

usually 40 inches of waterbelow atmosphericrp 3.0 It hasheretofore'been proposed to discharge the cooling air from the cowl at the regionof low. pressure above described,.,so thatthe coolingair flows in through the front inlet orifice, rearwardly around the cylinders and ,isthen constrained by suitable baiiies toiiow forwardly to a discharge orifice situated at =a=region of low pressure as above described; however, insuch proposalsthe exhaust-gas collector has.been,sit-'- 1 uated at the rear of the engine-so thatthe cooling air became-heated between its new rearwardly and its flow forwardly. 1

One object of the present-invention tore-1.

move the above disadvantage ands-another object is-tofprovide an improved constructional form of comprises a surrounding; cowl having an inlet- 50 orifice at the front for cooling air, anexhaust gas-collector situated in'frontof theengine cylinders, a partitionto isolate the incoming air from theexhaust-collector and an air outlet at a point of low pressure near the front endof the" (cowl wherebysome of the airiscaused to-return and flow ,in ifcontact with the exhaust-collector.

In cowled-air-coole'd engines in which the exhaust-collector arranged within the cowl and in front of theiengine cylinders, the air flowing 1 into the cowl-is liable to become heated by the Q exhaust-collector before reaching the cylinders.

' For a given mass, flow of air the rate of cooling 'of .a hot surfacexis proportional to the fourth powerof the temperature difference between the 1 It will be seen, 1

cooling, air and the surface. therefore,.that a, reduction in the temperature of the air reaching the parts of the engine to be cooled will greatly increase the cooling effect. For example, an increase inthe temperature difference from 200 C, to 230 C. will increase 15 the rate of heat transfer, for a given mass flow of air, by 75%. Consequently, isolating, the incom ing coolingair from the heat of; the eikhaust greatlyimprovesthe cooling of the engine and enables either the air v flowior a given engine to go be reducedor the same air flow to be used for cooling a more powerful engine. 1 v It has also been heretofore proposed to discharge all the cooling air from the cowlof a cowled air-cooled engine at ,a region of low pres 25 i sure near the frontend of the cowl so that the cooling airflows in. through the frontinlet oriflce, rearwardly around the bases of the cylinders and -isthen constrained to flow forwardly to the front discharge orifice aforesaid, Such apro- 3o posal. suffers from the defect that the cooling air flowing around the cylinder-heads has already been heated in passing around the bases of the cylinders; Moreover, in suchproposed ar ra'.ngen 1ents,the exh'aust collector was disposed 35 within the cowl in rear of the cylinders so, that heat from theexhaust gases further increases the temperature of the cooling air flowing to the cylinder-heads.

According. to a further feature-of. the inven- 40 1 tion, thesaid partition and the adjacent wall of the cowl constitute betweenv them a chamber containingthe exhaust-collector within it, into whichchamber, cooling air enters" at the ,rear

' and is'discharged at the front; the exhaust co1- lector maythus bespaced away on all sides from the 'wallsof said chamber whereby the exhaustcollector is surrounded by the cooling air.

The said exhaust-collector, in this form of the invention, is preferably-aring of, circular crosssection. Alternatively, the outer wall of the exhaust-collector may, be constituted, by, or may lie in contact with, the adjacent wall of the cowl whereby the returned cooling air flows adjacent toonly the insidewall of the ei haust-collector.

radially-arranged air-cooled cylinders |2 only two Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figure l is a sectional elevation through the cowl and exhaust-collector of a radial-cylinder air-cooled aircraft engine, in which some ofthe cooling air is discharged through a rear outlet orifice and some of the air through a front out- Figures 2, 3 and 4 are alternative forms of the invention, being modifications of that shown in Figure 1, and a Figure 5 shows yet another modification in i which the exhaust gases are discharged into the 'ternal-combu stion engine I0 is carried by a 'suitable mounting II which m'ay,for examplaform an extension or enlargement from the wing of an aeroplane. The engine comprises a number of of which are shown. At the'front of the crankcase the engine carries gearing within a conoidal casing |3 from which the airscrew-shaft |4 pro- Y trudes forwardly and carries an airscrew 15.

The engine is surrounded by a streamlined cowl l6 which, as regards its external form, isiof usualdesign; the front end of the cowl being turned in to form a lip I! which is strengthened by a bead l8. Each cylinder l2 has fitted to'its exhaust portspipes I9 which convey the exhaust gases from the cylinders to an exhaust ring20 which, according to the invention, is of plain circular cowl l6.

from the front.

cross-section and is also circular when viewed It will be'seen that the exhaust ring 2|) is spaced away from the inside of the Between the casing |3 and the exhaust ring 20 1 there is a curved plate 2| which constitutes the partition above referred to. This partition starts with an out-turned and rearwardly-extending lip 22 which is spaced forwardly by a short distance 3 from the front lip ll of thecowl so as to leave a below with reference toFigures Sand 4. tion then passes rearwardly and outwardly so that narrow annulardischarge orifice 23. The partiits rear edge 24 lies behindthe exhaust ring 20, suitable apertures being formed in the partition to accommodate the pipes 9. 'It will be seen that the partition 2| is also spaced away from the exhaust ring 20 so that the partition and. the

front part of thecowl constitutebetween thema hollow chamber within which 'theexhaustring 20 is contained,'the exhaust ring beingspace'd'awayl.

on all sides from the walls of the chamber.

When the aircraft .is in flight, as has already f been explained, the air pressure at theannular orifice within the partition 2| is above atmospheric pressure whereas the pressure at'an annu-- I lar zone ofslightly'greater radius than the partition isat a pressure below atmospheric. There i is thus a tendency for air to flow rearwardlyiinto In the arrangement of Figure 1 it' is intended,

that the majority (for example, 70%-90%) of the cooling air'which enters the front annular orifice shall be discharged through a rear annular orifice-25 after passing around and cooling-the of Figure 1.

i in the drawings.

cylinders |2. The size of the orifice 25 may be controlled in knownmanner by adjustable flaps 26 such as are described in United States Patent'No. 2,098,947 dated November 16, 1937. The size of the orifice 25 is so adjusted, in relation to conditions of flight, that the remaining air (for example, 30%- 10%) is discharged forwardly through the chamber above described which contains the exhaust ring 20 and out through the annular discharge orifice 23 'at the front of the .cowl. -In flowing through this chamber the air fiows around the exhaust ring 20 on all sides of it whereby not'only is the exhaust ring effectively' cooled, but the air entering the cowl inside the partition 2| is insulated from heat which would otherwise be imparted to it from the ex- I haust ring.

A further advantage of the arrangement shown Morerenders it simple to construct and stronger thanexhaust rings -of non-circular cross-section.

In order to ensure that the air entering'the chamber containing the exhaust ringshall flow' uniformly around the exhaust ring, thecowl may be fitted internally with a suitably shaped defiector such as-the deflector 21 shown atthe top Alternatively, it may be found that no such defiectoris necessary, in which case the internal surface of the cowl may be left plain at this. point as shown in the bottom-half of Fig- In addition to, instead of, the adjustment made possible by the flaps v2|5, the size of the discharge orifice 23 at the front of the cowl may" be adjusted'by any suitable means, not shown In any event, it is preferred to maintain the rear discharge orifice 25 permanently open so thatthe main body of cooling air, unheated by contact with the exhaust system,

passes rearwardly and out through the said orifice. Only such quantity of air'as is required to cool the exhaust ring is dischargedthrough the front orifice 23, 1

' Certain parts of the partition 2| may be lagged with asbestos or the like in a manner described The proportions of the various parts may vary according to the power of the engine and other factors. exhaust ring 20 may be considerably largerin cross-sectionwhere it has to serve the cylinders of a two-bank'engine- Figure 2=also shows an alternative shape for the partition 2| the lip 22 may be adjustable so as to adjust the size of the discharge orifice 23. f- The trailing edge 24 of the partition, as shown in Figure 2, may also extend outwardly to a substantial radius-so as to leave only a narrow annular orifice through which the forwardly flowing cooling air can enter the chamber containing the exhaust-ring. The rear edge 24 maybe beaded as shown in order to give it the requisite strength;

In the arrangement of Figure 2, it may or may not be necessaryto, provide a deflector immediately in rear of the partition 2|. Where such a deflector is required, it may take the form of the U-shaped ring 28 which also serves to strengthen the cowl at this point.-

The" manner in which the gas may be dis charged from the ring '20 'is illustrated in Figure For example, as shown in Figure 2, the

2 in which the front end of a tail-pipe 39 is shown'leading from thering20 and through a suitable aperture in the wall of the cowl l6; a

plurality of tail-pipes maybe arranged at suitable ,afllxed to the inside of the cowl I6 near its leadingedge. In this form oflthe invention, the partition 2| may be approximately similar to' that described with reference to Figure 1, having an out-turned and rearwardly-extending lip 22 at its forward edge so as to provide a narrow annular discharge orifice 23 for the air whichilows forwa-rdly through the cowl. The front portion of the cowl and the plate 29 maybeconstructed as one unit which is subsequently attached to the rear part of the cowl. In the arrangement of Figure 3, as in the case of Figures 1 and 2,.a certain proportion of the air which enters at the front orifice within the partition 2| reverses its direction of fiow within the cowl and passes'into the space.- between the curvedplate 29 and the partition 2|. This air coolsthe exhaust ring and insulates the-air entering the central orifice from the heat of the exhaust ring. To improve the insulation the rear part of the partition 2| may carry a layer 30 of asbestos or other suitable material on either its internal orexternal surface.

In the alternative arrangement of t Figure .4 the lip-portion 22 of the partition -2| is connected to the partition by a stepped portion 3| which provides a narrow space between the partition and the exhaustiring 29 at this point,

whereby the coolingair in the exhaust ring chamber is constrained to flow with substantially uniform velocity over the exhaust-collector.

The layer illlgof asbestos, which is preferably arranged on the inside of the partition; may be extended forwardly and outwardly so as to cover the stepped portion 3| and the lip 22.

The arrangement of Figure 4 may be modified as shown in Figure 5 by making the curved plate 29 separate from the wall of thecowl at its from;

its front edge with a U-shaped extension 33 which is spaced away from the front lip l8 of the cowl so as to permit the exhaust gases to front of the U-shaped extension 33' the front lip 22 of the partition 2| is provided as before so that, as the exhaust gases are discharged from the orifice 34, they immediately mix with the cooling air discharged from'the orifice 23. The

cooling air reduces the temperature of the exhaust gases sufilciently and it will be clear that this arrangement has the advantage that the tail-pipes (such as 39 in Figure 2) are no longer necessary.

We claim:

A cowl, for an air-cooled aircraft engine, which is formed with an inlet orifice at the front of the cowl for cooling air and an outlet orifice 1 near the front of the cowl through which a part,

only, of the said air is discharged, and in which a partition and a wall of the cowl are spaced apart to form a chamber near the front of the cowl through which chamber the air. passes on its way from the interior of the cowl to the said front outlet; orifice, comprising an exhaust c01- lect'ing ring of circular cross-section 50 arranged within said chamber as to be spaced away on all end. As shown, the curved plate 29 is formed at sides from said partition and said wall whereby\ the exhaust-collecting ring is surrounded by said air.

10 escape through a narrow annular orifice 34. In v 

